CATHOLIC ADMIRAL OF JAPAN Is Hopeful for Catholicism in his Country

Rear-Admiral Shinjiro Yamamoto, K.B.E., of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and a distinguished Japanese Catholic, arrived in Dublin last week and was received by Dr. Paschal Robinson, 0.F.M., at Phoenix Park.
The Admiral is one of the four Catholic members of the Japanese court and has done a great deal of work for Catholic education in Japan.
Speaking of the progress made by the Catholic Church in Japan, he said: "There are about 300,000 Catholics in Japan, and there have been many vocations. A good number have chosen the contemplative Orders, such as the Trappists and the Carmelites. The Archbishop of Tokio, who is also Primate of Japan, is himself a Japanese.
Twenty Churches
" No obstacle is placed in the way of Catholicity there, and in Tokio there are some 20 Catholic churches in a population of 6,000,000. The work of conversion has made rapid progress in recent years in Japan and I am very optimistic of the future. I am very glad to see that the Holy See takes the same hopeful view of the future in my country."
Admiral Yamamoto was particularly pleased to renew a friendship with the Nuncio Apostolic, whom he met at the Versailles Peace Conference twenty years ago.
Admiral Yamamoto was received by His Holiness the Pope at the Vatican in Feb ruary last. " I have," he said, with a smile, " seen four Popes—Leo XIII., Pius X., Benedict XV. and Pius XI."